Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Red in Tooth and Claw

I managed to get a few shots of a Sparrowhawk taking a Collared Dove as a prey item earlier today. Taken through the kitchen window on my wife's compact camera which was handily next to the sink! This is the third Collared Dove to be taken in as many days, we suspect, as there were feathers of one gone bird in the garden yesterday and a moribund bird in the garden earlier on this morning before this bird made the ultimate mistake by wandering about on the lawn.
This is a juvenile bird and can be identified by the dark brown upperparts, rufous edges to the forewing (which is just visible in the last three pictures) and the barring on the underparts which is quite strong and could indicate a male. The Spar was busily plucking away before being spooked by a Magpie which was clearly uncomfortable about the presence of the hawk.

The Sparrowhawk landed with its kill in another part of the garden after moving away from the Magpie but it was not to enjoy its meal as a neighbour's bloody chicken went to investigate and the Sparrowhawk thought it prudent to clear off leaving most of the dove un-eaten. There are now good sized bits of three Collared Doves scattered about the garden!